


The Journey of Es and Aerith

by fieryredranden



Series: The Series of Self-Discovery [2]
Category: ALTER EGO (Visual Novel)
Genre: Eventual Romance, F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-12
Updated: 2020-03-16
Packaged: 2021-03-01 04:34:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,708
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23119306
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fieryredranden/pseuds/fieryredranden
Summary: A sequel to The Hall of Inquiry. A story of a girl, a wanderer, and a strange, wide world.
Relationships: Es/Wanderer
Series: The Series of Self-Discovery [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1661794
Comments: 4
Kudos: 42





	1. Chapter One- Preparation

As Aerith walked through the Hall of Inquiry, it was strange to be leading another. The Hall was usually a solitary experience. The fact that someone else was with her made the whole thing less unnerving. There were still whispers, but they were quieter now. She chose to focus on Es’ footsteps. They were… unsteady. Their rhythm involved a lot of catching up to Aerith’s pace. She would have slowed down and helped the girl carry her stuff, but she couldn’t lose sight of this butterfly. Otherwise, they’d be walking for weeks before they found the door.

Packing Es’ stuff together had proved challenging. Aerith had gone out and gotten an extra backpack and such for Es before inviting her to come with, but Es was rather attached to her books. After gathering a few pairs of clothes, amenities, and organizing rations, the rest of the space was promptly filled with novels. Aerith remembered talking to her about it.

“...Es. You can’t bring all of these,” began Aerith hesitantly.

Es frowned. “Is there anything else I need to bring? I thought we were almost done packing.”

Aerith sighed. “Well, no. There’s still quite a bit of stuff to grab that I don’t have extra of. We’re gonna have to stop in one of the settlements nearby before we can continue.

“What are we missing? I can make room,” said Es defensively, still putting more books into the bag.

Aerith grabbed her hand gently and pushed the book back onto the table. “A bedroll, for one. You’re going to have to borrow mine until we get into town.”

“Where are you going to be sleeping?” asked Es. She was a bit concerned about the prospect of Aerith sleeping on the ground.

“Against a tree or something on the ground. I’ll figure something out.” She wiggled her eyebrows and grinned. “Less you wanna share?”

Es flushed and turned her attention to the books in the pack and not the grinning girl. “No, I’m quite alright. Enjoy the ground.”

“Es, you’ve wounded me. I thought we were friends.” She sighed and stopped grinning. “Jokes aside, though, here’s what you’ve gotta do. Pick three of your favorite books.”  
“Only three? But there’s so many h-”

Aerith placed a finger in front of her mouth. “Relax, Es. Pick three books. There will be more you haven’t read yet when we get up there. Do you want to run out of room, and have to leave behind books up there? Or would you rather leave them safely in this Library?”

Es began to speak, but then closed her mouth and sighed, before taking the books out of the pack and reading the spine of each one. “This will take a while,” Es sighed.

“I’ll leave you to it. I’ve gotta go relieve myself.”

Es didn’t look up from her books. “Third door on th-”

“On the left, yeah. I know.”

When she had come back, Es had three books on the table, and was starting to put the rest onto a nearby cart. Aerith hadn’t asked which books they were, but she was glad to see that there would be room for the other things they had to pick up. After that she helped space out some of the stuff that Es had in her packs in order to save space.

They worked like that for about half an hour more, before finally sealing up the packs for Es. The shorter girl grabbed a black cloak, as well as a wide-brimmed black hat. “We can leave tomorrow, then.”

“Fair enough.” Aerith climbed into a chair and put her hat over her face. “Night, Es.” 

Neither of them had slept that night. Blinking tiredly, Aerith came back to the present.

“Come on, Es. We’re almost there.”

Es huffed, moving faster to catch up. “You said that fifteen minutes ago.”

“If you’re already tired of walking, you aren’t going to like what we’re planning to do,” teased Aerith.

“No, no. I’m just excited, and it’s bothersome that it’s taking this long,” she said, looking at Aerith. “I know you’re worried that I’m only coming because you want me to. And that’s partially true.”

Aerith didn’t say anything this time.

Es continued. “But I’m also going because I want to. I want to see the world outside of here. I want to see the stars in the sky, and the trees on the ground, a-”

“There it is!” said Aerith finally, heading toward the familiar onyx door with the blue butterfly on it.

“Oh.” Es began to walk even faster to catch up.

They walked toward the door. Aerith did a mock bow and gestured toward the door.

“Would you like to do the honors?”

As Es’ hand reached out and gripped cold metal, she breathed deeply, and hesitantly pulled open the door.


	2. Chapter Two-- First Steps

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Es steps outside, finally.

As Es opened the door, she felt the cold rush of air on her face. Moving air. She’d never felt the wind before; not really, anyway. It was cold, she assumed. Books always said it was cold, but she’d never really felt a difference in temperature. The cave ahead was dark. She only knew it was a cave because Aerith had told her. There was so much she didn’t know.

Aerith stepped beside her. “Are you ready?”

“Of course,” said Es, snapping out of her trance.

Over the course of about 10 minutes, they made their way out of the steep cave. “...and then there’s the ocean, and a sunset, and the night sk—”

Aerith’s speech was interrupted by an odd pattering noise outside. “Oh. It’s raining.”

Es was immediately enraptured. As she stared out of the mouth of the cave, she had to cover her eyes until they adjusted to the light. But she looked out and saw it. What books had always described. Water, falling from the sky! It made a nice, if repetitive sound. “Is that rain?” she asked, the excitement noticeable in her voice. “Here, hold these.”

“Wait wh-” Her speech was cut off by Es throwing her bags into her arms. Es took a deep breath, and stepped out of the cave, into the falling droplets. 

As Es walked out, she felt each one hit her skin. She felt the water rolling down her skin, soaking into her hair and clothes. She was smiling. She hadn’t even realized, but she was smiling. She looked up. The sky. The clouds and the sky. It was all a dull shade of grey, but it didn’t matter! There was sky!

She took a deep breath, and looked around. The area had a few large boulders. Where the cave entrance was, there was a ludicrous amount of rock that seemed to go up forever. Mountains, thought Es. The air was humid and cold. There were huge green… plants? Yes, plants— that seemed to stretch up quite high as well. Bushes? No, bushes are meant to be short. She looked around for a bit longer, still just lost in it all.

“Trees!” exclaimed Es, beaming. She suddenly flushed as she realized she’d said that aloud.

Aerith laughed a bit as she stepped out of the cave, donning her pointed hat. “Yes, Es. Trees. Trees, grass, rain, and mountains. And frogs,” she said, surprised. A frog had hopped along next to her.

“What? Frog?” said Es, whipping around and crouching down next to where she saw movement.

“Yeah. That’s a frog. Not sure how they explained that one in your books.”

Es was intrigued. “That’s not exactly how I expected frogs to look. It’s a bit lumpy-looking.” She bent down to pick it up.

“Might be a toad. I’m no expert.”

Es picked up the toad. It seemed surprisingly calm when she did. After studying it for a second, she put it back down.

Aerith stuck a finger in the air. “Rain’s getting worse,” she said. “I know you’re awestruck, but we need to get moving.” She handed Es her cloak and wide-brimmed black hat, as well as her stuff.

“How do you know that? It feels about the sa-” at this moment, it started to pour.  
Aerith shrugged. “Rain’s getting worse,” she said, fixing her hat and pulling out her compass. 

Es followed along behind her, now getting soaked by the rain. As they walked, Es occasionally stopped to ask Aerith what something was. She now knew what a hawk looked like, at least vaguely. She’d stopped to pick up some flowers along the way, as well.

“Do you know what kind of flowers these are?” she’d asked. The Wanderer looked back at her, seeing her holding a few. 

Aerith’s eyes widened. “Oh. Those are… roses. Black roses.”

Es cocked her head to the side. “You seem perturbed. Are you well?”

Aerith took a deep breath and turned around. “Rain’s getting worse. Let’s keep walking for a bit.”

Es was worried she’d done something wrong. Still, she held onto the roses. She was confused. Her books had told her roses were an expression of love. What was wrong with that? Still, she picked her pack back up, and trundled along behind Aerith.

“So, what other kinds of flowers do you know about?” she asked, trying to change the subject. 

Aerith relaxed a bit and stopped to grab something from within her coat. “I used to do a lot of flower cataloguing when I ran out of things to explore in the immediate area. I’m no expert, but there’s a few I can point out.” She pulled out a journal with the name ‘Flora and Flowers’. Opening it up, she turned to a random page.

“Carnations. In general, they’re a flower that symbolizes love and fascination. White carnations also symbolize a pure kind of love. Lighter red means adoration, dark red means deep affection. Pink means the love of a mother,” she recited as she read her notes. “The petals are also edible. Surprisingly sweet for a plant. They don’t grow around here though. You’d have to go further south.”

They went on like this for a while as they traveled, only changing direction a few times. Es learned all about different types of flowers, but she still didn’t know what Black Roses meant. She wished she had asked to read the Wanderer’s journals earlier.


End file.
